It's a humid February day in Maui. The air smells like flowers and the otherworldly maile leaves as we see the hand drawn sign for Pe'ahi next to a fruit stand in the dirt parking lot.
We ride in a van down the single-lane dirt track with our 18-month old bouncing on my lap.
After 10 minutes we see the vastness of the Pacific and the terrifying, crashing tower of water known as Jaws.
The surfers brave and skilled enough to get towed into this 80-foot wave have only one job: don't fall.
That's it. If they succeed, they find themselves on the ride of their lives and they didn't have to do anything.
The wave did the work. They just showed up, paid attention to the moment, and brought their whole self to the task.
That's what it feels like to be a hypergrowth leader. And the results are just as exhilarating.
What is Hypergrowth and Why Does it Matter?
When you're operating in hypergrowth, you aren't the one creating the results. You are in a game that delivers results simply by being in it. Your job is to play the game at your highest possible level for as long as you want to.
This was my experience working at the software companies Shopify and HubSpot over the last decade. For instance, from 2014 to 2021, Ecommerce grew from $1.3 trillion US to $4.5 trillion US.
Working in this market was (and still is) like riding a massive wave. Simply keep riding, i.e. deliver value in that space, and amazing growth will follow.
Life in hypergrowth also means you're tapping into something big, something whose time has come, and you're the one who is responsible for it.
Even though the wave itself does most of the work, you still have to be brave enough to get up on it. With no rider, the full potential of the wave cannot be met.
As a hypergrowth leader, you accept the responsibility of directing what that wave will create. You harness your body, mind, and spirit to a vast source of energy and commit to bringing it forth in the world for the upliftment of everyone.
And because it's the biggest thrill there is.
It's Not Just Tech
Before you think I'm only talking about certain markets and sectors, let's take a step back for a second. Hypergrowth is a perspective on life itself that reveals a deeper truth than most people allow for.
We live in a universe that was born from an infintesimal amount of matter to the infinite space we inhabit today in the blink of an eye. And that is the same universe we are in right now.
Every great leap forward in our evolutionary journey was similarly unexpected, improbable, and hyperfast. Hydrogen atoms appeared out of nowhere once the energy cooled enough. Stars were born, again, out of nowhere, once gravity acted on the hydrogen long enough. Heavy elements like carbon appeared in a sudden explosion of ancient supernova. And on it goes, just one surprise after another.
So why can't the growth of your business be the same? Hypergrowth means you believe in the potential for emergence in the next moment.
Let's Get Even Weirder
Everything about you is an idea.
Matter itself is an idea. When you look deep down, far enough into what we're really composed of as human beings—the material stuff—all there is are fluctuations of energy. Quarks, neutrinos, quantum foam. That's what you're made of. Energy.
The reason we identify as the solid individuals we feel ourselves to be is because we didn't know anything else. and frankly, it's kind of weird to think of yourself as energy first and foremost. Our senses didn't evolve to pick up on the kind of subtlety we're talking about. Our senses are there to keep us from getting eaten and to make sure the species continues.
But a vision of hypergrowth opens up new doors of perception.
If you really step back and consider who you are, the answer becomes much more clearly that you are an energy pattern. Your body and everything in it is a specific type of energy pattern.
Why does this matter?
We suffer because we think we are separate.
We suffer because we think we are alone in a vast expanse of empty space.
We suffer because we think life is hard, we have to struggle to get by, and that others have it better than we do.
In other words, believing that you are a material thing whose thoughts and feelings are simply created by the "real" stuff of your material being, you cut yourself off from the vastness of who you really are and the deepest source of connection.
Just shifting your view ever so slightly to see that your experience of thinking and feeling is just as real as your experience of being a material something opens you up to the possibility of profound connection with the source of all that is.
From this perspective, leading is simply the act of tuning in to the energies around you and within you, and giving them a voice.
There's nothing more to it than that.
The Universe Is On Your Side
The universe has a purpose. It manifests within you as your own sense of purpose. That is what guides you as a hypergrowth leader. Giving voice to it and acting from it is how you turn that purpose from a whisper that wants to emerge into something incredible that is yours alone to create.
Embracing this view allows you to discard the drama and time pressure from your life and work. If the universe is on your side, because it isn't something separate from you but is who you are, then whatever it is you are moved to do is the perfect thing.
Try that on and see how it works for you. I bet it makes you a bit uneasy.
Most people think that without pressure, deadlines, and deliverables that nothing would get done. It's a model of human behavior that says that we only work for external rewards and, left to our own devices, we wouldn't rise to our highest potential.
But if you believe in the highest potential of your team and in your own cosmic inspiration for doing the work you're doing then you are operating in a totally different context.
You just shifted into a world where everyone can win.
Where the pie keeps getting bigger.
Where you experiencing wild success helps everyone else experience the same.
Ride that wave and see where it takes you.